I’ve felt recently that something has been missing in my life. I can’t pinpoint when this started, whether it has to do with becoming a mom. I thought I missed doing something creative every day so I started fitting in scrapbooking, card-making or even just reading about these things, into my over-scheduled day. It often happened at midnight, making for one sleep-deprived mom, but it did make me feel more fulfilled. Yet I still felt like something was missing.
Then I wrote a letter to my city’s parking commission opposing a petition for permitted parking on my street. A really boring matter but I went through a whole process to draft this letter—finding my voice, developing a lead, crafting supporting statements, selecting just the right words…revising, refining. I became a bit obsessed. And it was then that I realized that what I miss is writing.
I’ve been doing research on social media for my job. When I’m asked to do something outside of my comfort zone, I like to spend quite a bit of time learning all I can about it, reading about what other people are doing, talking about it and thinking about the best way to begin before I jump in. I’ve spent days perusing Facebook pages, trawling the Twitterverse and blog-hopping my way around, following a multitude of topics. I’ve been reading a lot of other people’s words and it has gotten me thinking about my own.
I know there was a reason I started to blog. I thought it was to share my craft projects. Now I am realizing that my creative endeavors go beyond pages and cards. I used to keep a journal. I haven’t in years. I do journal on my scrapbook pages, but it’s not quite the same.
I know it’s naïve to think I’ll somehow have the time to start writing every day. I feel like I’m so out of practice that by the time I warm up and get going, there’s no time left to finish, let alone polish and perfect. I’m not totally sure where that leaves me. I guess it’s time to call the research phase over, jump in and see where it gets me. So I apologize in advance for any unfinished ideas, tangential ramblings or grammatical gaffes. This girl’s just got to write.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Friday, December 2, 2011
It's been awhile...
Whew, it's been a long time since I've posted, and that's due to a combination of factors. One of those being that I got an Android phone awhile back and the salesman had me set up a new Gmail account to forward my Hotmail email to, since apparently Microsoft and Google just can't play nicely together. In my excitement over the new phone I totally forgot that I should have used my existing Google account that was tied to my Blogger account. So I ended up with two Google accounts and all kind of confusion ensued. It seems there is no way to combine two and signing in and out to update the blog and check my email was too time-consuming. The blog was sacrificed until I figured out that I could set up a new blog and import the old posts into it. The blog address I am not as excited about, but it will do.
My other HUGE obstacle to posting was that I had a baby, and thus barely have time for crafting, never mind writing about it. But she's 14 months-old now and starting to sleep for longer stretches and I've got to get my crafty mojo back on! Unfortunately, she's only sleeping "through the night" according to the technical definition of six hours, and of course those six don't align with my own sleep schedule! So I can't promise that all of my posts will be 100% lucid...
I do, however, have to scrapbook my daughter's past year, a daunting task that I've just started undertaking. So there will be lot of pink in my upcoming posts! I've also been trying to get back on track with card-making, and today I've got some of those to share.
For my boss Kelly's birthday:
This is an example of a card that I created awhile back and then added to and personalized for the recipient just before sending. Having a child has made this a more practical approach for actually having cards available in time for a specific occasion. I often use coordinating leftovers from scrapbook pages to put together basic cards that can then be embellished later.
Awhile back I was experimenting with digital scrapbooking a lot and had printed off some digital patterned papers. The patterned paper across this card is actually a printed digital paper that I wrapped sheer pink ribbon around and adhered to a white card base. The sentiment circle was made to match in Photoshop, printed, punched out with one of my many EK Success circle punches (Love them! So versatile!) and attached with foam tape. The purple scalloped circle and hot pink cardstock were sitting on my craft table looking for a home after being rejected from a scrapbook page. The white label shape was an experiment with my new Martha Stewart anywhere punch. I was a little skeptical of my need for this punch but now that I have it, I love it and will definitely be getting more. I layered them up and topped them off with a hot pink gem. I put the card aside and a few weeks later when I needed a card for my boss's birthday, I decided to add some bright yellow to punch it up a bit.
I had left an odd amount of open space at the bottom of the card because of the side of the already-cut pink cardstock. I punched a scalloped strip from a shimmery yellow cardstock I used recently on a scrapbook page and added that to the bottom of the card. I then cut out a strip of the same yellow carstock, ran it through my xyron, folded it in half, wrapped it around a corsage pin and notched the end. I added my boss's name with stickers and stuck the pin through the foam tape holding on the sentiment circle. I rounded the bottom corners to soften the look. A yellow dotted flower and a green gem later and the card was good to go. My boss has the card displayed in her office and told me that's she's gotten a lot of compliments on it!
For my "mom friend" Ashley's birthday:
This took me forever to get started on. I knew I wanted to feature the cocktails print patterned paper leftover from a scrapbook page that I'm working on about a girls night out, but just couldn't figure out what to match it with. I found a random scrap of hot pink cardstock on my craft table and decided to run that through my little Sizzix embossser purse (not the real name, but Mommy Brain has that escaping me right now). I got this new EK Success punch on clearance from Michaels that I've been using like crazy. Used that on diagonal-striped DCWV paper. Stamped "Cheers" sentiment with lime chalk ink on white cardstock and embossed with clear powder . Added a dotted outline with a pink Zig marker adhered with pop dots for some dimension. Stamped my friend's name with pink chalk ink on white cardstock, cut into a strip, notched the end to make a banner and edged with lime chalk ink. It needed a little something extra so I tied a knot in a snippet of ribbon and attached that under the name, and adhered with a glue dot a small yellow flower with a sparkly pink gem center. Hopefully I can finish the two scrapbook pages that the scraps from these cards came from over the weekend and post them next week. I'm not going to be too over-ambitious this time in how much I'm going to be able to blog!
Friday, November 20, 2009
Three, Count Them, Three Layouts!
Life is getting in the way of my blogging but I am finally back with three layouts to share! I have been realizing that I really don't like using kits and I would rather break up the elements to mix and match. I used a variety of products on all of these layouts.
Full of Grace
This layout is actually based on a Becky Fleck sketch (www.pagemaps.com) although I didn't follow it too well. I did this page at a crop and of course I didn't have all of the supplies I would have liked. I didn't intend for the background to be black but the pink I had picked out didn't really match even though it came from the same kit as the pink flowered paper. The journaling spot is actually a clear sticker but I had to adhere it to some white CS so you could read the writing when I ended up with the black background.
Directions: Cut pink flowered pp. Punch circles from purple dot pp and attach to back of pink pp so half sticks out. Attach to black CS. Adhere purple border sticker below circles. Overlap purple pp on pink then attach photo on top. Write journaling and attach to white CS. Cut out, ink edges and attach. Use border punch on strip of white CS. Adhere letter stickers and attach with two brads and photo prongs. Thread ribbon through buckle, wrap around background and attach ends to back. Embellish buckle with flowers, attaching one with brad and place a gem in the center of the other one. Add heart sticker. Attach letter stickers to tab for date, embellish with gem and adhere. Rub gold ink pad around edges of pad.
Supplies: Black & White DCWV cardstock, K&C. purple dotted paper, ? pink flowered paper and photo prongs, Making Memories velvet letters, ? gold letter stickers, American Crafts journaling spot, KI Memories tab, border sticker and photo corner, Stickopotamus heart sticker, Me & My Big Ideas chipboard flower, Prima flower, ? chipboard buckle, Martha Stewart border punch, gold brads, black SlickWriter, sheer ribbon from grab bag, black Staz On, gold Colorbox ink pad, purple gems
Silly Lollipop Foot = Tease
This is such a silly picture of my niece putting a lollipop in her mouth with her foot. I use a rebus style title since I had the foot sticker and then saw the lollipop sticker at Target (now I have a whole sheet and no idea what I'll use them for...) Iwas glad to mix some old patterned paper with some new paper and finally use one of my Making Memories clear flowers that I got from the Two Peas clearance.
Supplies: White carstock, DCWV pink cardstock, Pocket Full of Posies pp and Spring Stack border sticker, Frances Meyer Dizzy Dots pp, Making Memories journaling stamp and clear flowers, Stickopotamus foot and lollipop sticker, KI Memories word stickers, white Uniball gel pen, Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, Broken China Distress ink pad, foam tape, Studio 88 gem
Directions: Scallop edge of white CS and attach to pink CS. Cut pps to fit next to photos. Stamp dotted paper with journaling spot and write journaling with white pen. Add border sticker. Top with clear flower using foam tape. Add gem to flower center. Arrange stickers to create title.
MIL
This layout features me and my new mother-in-law. I liked how we were both wearing similar shirts and wanted to echo that with the background paper. This page was pretty straight-forward to create but I did smudge the journaling. Hopefully it adds to the grungy feel of the page.
Supplies:
My Mind's Eye Bohemia pp, gray cardstock, K&Co. chipboard letters, Prima flowers, Chatterbox Fabulous date tag, photo mat and word art, Studio 18 gems, K&Co. brad, Daisy D's journaling spot, white Uniball gel pen, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, foam tape
Directions
Cut patterned paper (pp) to 8.5 by 11. Edge gray CS with border punch, cut to about 1/3 of page size and attach across middle. Arrange photo, journaling spot, tag and flower on top of mat and attach all. Poke holes along top edge of gray area and around photo corner and draw lines between holes to simulate stitching. Attach chipboard letters above gray section. Attach "thoughts" word art below photo area with foam tape.
Full of Grace
This layout is actually based on a Becky Fleck sketch (www.pagemaps.com) although I didn't follow it too well. I did this page at a crop and of course I didn't have all of the supplies I would have liked. I didn't intend for the background to be black but the pink I had picked out didn't really match even though it came from the same kit as the pink flowered paper. The journaling spot is actually a clear sticker but I had to adhere it to some white CS so you could read the writing when I ended up with the black background.
Directions: Cut pink flowered pp. Punch circles from purple dot pp and attach to back of pink pp so half sticks out. Attach to black CS. Adhere purple border sticker below circles. Overlap purple pp on pink then attach photo on top. Write journaling and attach to white CS. Cut out, ink edges and attach. Use border punch on strip of white CS. Adhere letter stickers and attach with two brads and photo prongs. Thread ribbon through buckle, wrap around background and attach ends to back. Embellish buckle with flowers, attaching one with brad and place a gem in the center of the other one. Add heart sticker. Attach letter stickers to tab for date, embellish with gem and adhere. Rub gold ink pad around edges of pad.
Supplies: Black & White DCWV cardstock, K&C. purple dotted paper, ? pink flowered paper and photo prongs, Making Memories velvet letters, ? gold letter stickers, American Crafts journaling spot, KI Memories tab, border sticker and photo corner, Stickopotamus heart sticker, Me & My Big Ideas chipboard flower, Prima flower, ? chipboard buckle, Martha Stewart border punch, gold brads, black SlickWriter, sheer ribbon from grab bag, black Staz On, gold Colorbox ink pad, purple gems
Silly Lollipop Foot = Tease
This is such a silly picture of my niece putting a lollipop in her mouth with her foot. I use a rebus style title since I had the foot sticker and then saw the lollipop sticker at Target (now I have a whole sheet and no idea what I'll use them for...) Iwas glad to mix some old patterned paper with some new paper and finally use one of my Making Memories clear flowers that I got from the Two Peas clearance.Supplies: White carstock, DCWV pink cardstock, Pocket Full of Posies pp and Spring Stack border sticker, Frances Meyer Dizzy Dots pp, Making Memories journaling stamp and clear flowers, Stickopotamus foot and lollipop sticker, KI Memories word stickers, white Uniball gel pen, Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, Broken China Distress ink pad, foam tape, Studio 88 gem
Directions: Scallop edge of white CS and attach to pink CS. Cut pps to fit next to photos. Stamp dotted paper with journaling spot and write journaling with white pen. Add border sticker. Top with clear flower using foam tape. Add gem to flower center. Arrange stickers to create title.
MIL
This layout features me and my new mother-in-law. I liked how we were both wearing similar shirts and wanted to echo that with the background paper. This page was pretty straight-forward to create but I did smudge the journaling. Hopefully it adds to the grungy feel of the page.Supplies:
My Mind's Eye Bohemia pp, gray cardstock, K&Co. chipboard letters, Prima flowers, Chatterbox Fabulous date tag, photo mat and word art, Studio 18 gems, K&Co. brad, Daisy D's journaling spot, white Uniball gel pen, Fiskars Upper Crest border punch, foam tape
Directions
Cut patterned paper (pp) to 8.5 by 11. Edge gray CS with border punch, cut to about 1/3 of page size and attach across middle. Arrange photo, journaling spot, tag and flower on top of mat and attach all. Poke holes along top edge of gray area and around photo corner and draw lines between holes to simulate stitching. Attach chipboard letters above gray section. Attach "thoughts" word art below photo area with foam tape.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Quick update, nothing to show
Bad blogger I have been, but not a bad scrapper! I have done six pages since I last checked in, which is like a record for me! Some were done at the all-day crop I went to three weeks ago but some I just worked on in the evenings. It has been taking me two evenings on average to complete a layout so that could be 182.5 layouts in the next year... Yeah, right!
OK so I have done the pages but I have no proof since I keep forgetting to bring them into my office to scan them and my photographing attempts at home are awful. I'm out of town for the weekend so I will likely get no more pages done, so next week I will definitely scan at least one or two and have something for "show and tell."
Meanwhile, it's almost 5:00 on Friday and I need to finish up my actual real work so I can get out of here. Let the weekend begin!
OK so I have done the pages but I have no proof since I keep forgetting to bring them into my office to scan them and my photographing attempts at home are awful. I'm out of town for the weekend so I will likely get no more pages done, so next week I will definitely scan at least one or two and have something for "show and tell."
Meanwhile, it's almost 5:00 on Friday and I need to finish up my actual real work so I can get out of here. Let the weekend begin!
Friday, October 23, 2009
Internet Inspiration
The Internet never ceases to amaze me. I just went on a wild web ride that took me all over the place and I ended up finding some good resources that are just too fabulous not to share.
It all started out because my Creating Keepsakes magazine is up for renewal. Now I think that I should still have several issues left because I was not only a CK subscriber but also Simple Scrapbooks and Digital Scrapbooking, both now defunct. Not the point of this post though.
I went online to see if I could find a better renewal rate than the $23.97 they were offering me. And I found out that CK Media was sold in September. Where have I been? And to a company that's here in Cambridge? Unbelievable. What on earth is going on in this industry?! I mean, I should have seen it coming with the demise of SS and Digital, and also Memory Makers, but still.
So in my quest to find out more about this (and try to determine if it's worth renewing CK or if this one's going belly-up too) I stumbled onto www.scrapbookupdate.com. I'd been on this site before and forgot how informative it is. Good stuff! There I saw that Becky Higgins has left CK so wandered over to her site www.beckyhiggins.com to read more and found this cool Life Story template: http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/ADULT.life.story.pdf that I'm itching to use.
Scrapbook Update also led me to Renee Pearson's new blog, which I'm looking forward to exploring when I've got Photoshop on my mind.
Somehow I then ended up at Angie Lucas's blog "yeah, right," (www.angielucas.com) which I am going to have to follow because I just love that she is a self-professed "word nerd" and scrapbooker! Gotta love someone whose post title is "A Quick Grammar Lesson." Angie mentions that she was a guest blogger over at Write.Click.Scrapbook and I got excited all over again about this inspirational site that I had first seen several months ago (then promptly forgot all about), started by ex-Simple Scrapbookers .
Angie also mentioned her e-book company site, www.ellapublishing.com and get this -- they have a FREE e-zine! I love e-zines and I love them when they're free even better! Check it out! Their cover story featured a layout by Moon Ko and a link to a short Q&A with her, which excited me since I have followed her work on TwoPeas because she is an 8.5 by 11 scrapper like me. So off I went to explore her blog, but not before I discovered 8.5 by 11 scrappers Diane Herman, Waleska Neris, Erin Sweeney and Caroline Ikeji. Can't wait to fully explore their blogs for more layout inspiration!
OK, now I have to go. No time for blogging, I have too many blogs to go read! So do I really need that CK subscription too? Yeah, I do, even for $23,97, or whatever it costs. I think I need to do my small part to keep this industry alive and if no one is willing to pay for content, there's no incentive for anyone to keep producing. The Internet is amazing but really, nothing in life is truly free. But that's a post for another day -- I'm off to soak up inspiration and play!
It all started out because my Creating Keepsakes magazine is up for renewal. Now I think that I should still have several issues left because I was not only a CK subscriber but also Simple Scrapbooks and Digital Scrapbooking, both now defunct. Not the point of this post though.
I went online to see if I could find a better renewal rate than the $23.97 they were offering me. And I found out that CK Media was sold in September. Where have I been? And to a company that's here in Cambridge? Unbelievable. What on earth is going on in this industry?! I mean, I should have seen it coming with the demise of SS and Digital, and also Memory Makers, but still.
So in my quest to find out more about this (and try to determine if it's worth renewing CK or if this one's going belly-up too) I stumbled onto www.scrapbookupdate.com. I'd been on this site before and forgot how informative it is. Good stuff! There I saw that Becky Higgins has left CK so wandered over to her site www.beckyhiggins.com to read more and found this cool Life Story template: http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/ADULT.life.story.pdf that I'm itching to use.
Scrapbook Update also led me to Renee Pearson's new blog, which I'm looking forward to exploring when I've got Photoshop on my mind.
Somehow I then ended up at Angie Lucas's blog "yeah, right," (www.angielucas.com) which I am going to have to follow because I just love that she is a self-professed "word nerd" and scrapbooker! Gotta love someone whose post title is "A Quick Grammar Lesson." Angie mentions that she was a guest blogger over at Write.Click.Scrapbook and I got excited all over again about this inspirational site that I had first seen several months ago (then promptly forgot all about), started by ex-Simple Scrapbookers .
Angie also mentioned her e-book company site, www.ellapublishing.com and get this -- they have a FREE e-zine! I love e-zines and I love them when they're free even better! Check it out! Their cover story featured a layout by Moon Ko and a link to a short Q&A with her, which excited me since I have followed her work on TwoPeas because she is an 8.5 by 11 scrapper like me. So off I went to explore her blog, but not before I discovered 8.5 by 11 scrappers Diane Herman, Waleska Neris, Erin Sweeney and Caroline Ikeji. Can't wait to fully explore their blogs for more layout inspiration!
OK, now I have to go. No time for blogging, I have too many blogs to go read! So do I really need that CK subscription too? Yeah, I do, even for $23,97, or whatever it costs. I think I need to do my small part to keep this industry alive and if no one is willing to pay for content, there's no incentive for anyone to keep producing. The Internet is amazing but really, nothing in life is truly free. But that's a post for another day -- I'm off to soak up inspiration and play!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Quick Girly Card
Today's card was such a rush job and I thought I was going to hate it but I think the Making Memories Glitter Glaze turned it around in the end! I read to a public school student once a week at lunchtime through the Everybody Wins! Power Lunch program. I had my session with her this morning and realized last night at like 8:00 that her birthday was yesterday. We are not supposed to buy the students presents as they are supposed to learn to value the time we spend together reading but we are encouraged to give them cards so I like to make her a little something pretty. I know I would have loved this when I was 10!
This card was an inexpensive endeavor for me since the white CS was leftover from my wedding invitations and the pink, lavender and flowered papers were from a scrapbook page that I am still finishing up. The flower center and sentiment embellishments are just a circle punch from the pink CS with one of the many purple gems I got at the Christmas Tree shop for like $1. The letters in the name aren't stickers as they appear but the same letter stamps I used on the last cards I made. The Glitter Glaze I brushed onto the cardstock was an after-thought but I love it! Really hard to see in the scan but it looks go nice and girly in person.
Directions: Trim cardstock to 4.25 by 5.5 inch bottom-opening card. Brush with glitter glaze and let dry. Scallop the edge of pp and pink strips. Trim pp to cover about 1/3 of the card and pink CS to matte underneath. Stamp letters on lavender CS with Wisteria ink and cut each one out. Glue top edges to back of bottom of layered papers. Adhere entire piece to card. Punch lavender CS with word tag punch and stamp top tag with birthday sentiment (save other tags for future project). Attach to card and trim excess. Layer flowers and attach to card with glue dots. Punch two 1/4 circles from hot pink CS. Layer with gems and attach to flower center and edge of sentiment tag.
Supplies: White & lavender cardstock, DCWV Spring Glitter Stack hot pink CS and flowered pp, Studio G birthday stamp, small alpha stamps, Prima flowers, adhesive gems, Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, circle hole punch, McGill retro word tags punch, Wisteria chalk ink, Making Memories Glitter Glaze, Zots glue dots
This card was an inexpensive endeavor for me since the white CS was leftover from my wedding invitations and the pink, lavender and flowered papers were from a scrapbook page that I am still finishing up. The flower center and sentiment embellishments are just a circle punch from the pink CS with one of the many purple gems I got at the Christmas Tree shop for like $1. The letters in the name aren't stickers as they appear but the same letter stamps I used on the last cards I made. The Glitter Glaze I brushed onto the cardstock was an after-thought but I love it! Really hard to see in the scan but it looks go nice and girly in person.Directions: Trim cardstock to 4.25 by 5.5 inch bottom-opening card. Brush with glitter glaze and let dry. Scallop the edge of pp and pink strips. Trim pp to cover about 1/3 of the card and pink CS to matte underneath. Stamp letters on lavender CS with Wisteria ink and cut each one out. Glue top edges to back of bottom of layered papers. Adhere entire piece to card. Punch lavender CS with word tag punch and stamp top tag with birthday sentiment (save other tags for future project). Attach to card and trim excess. Layer flowers and attach to card with glue dots. Punch two 1/4 circles from hot pink CS. Layer with gems and attach to flower center and edge of sentiment tag.
Supplies: White & lavender cardstock, DCWV Spring Glitter Stack hot pink CS and flowered pp, Studio G birthday stamp, small alpha stamps, Prima flowers, adhesive gems, Fiskars Scallop Sentiment border punch, circle hole punch, McGill retro word tags punch, Wisteria chalk ink, Making Memories Glitter Glaze, Zots glue dots
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Still Stuck on Pink
What can I say? I seem to be stuck on pink lately! Well possibly because now I have a bunch of pink scraps on my desk since I haven't cleaned it off since my other projects.
This card is for my friend Kristina whose birthday is actually today but I am a bit late in the mailing. It's a bit of an odd size, slightly smaller than 5 by 7, but is is going in a box anyway. It is going to be sent with a hat and scarf that I knitted for her in this soft variegated-blue suede yarn and a pair of red, silver and black earrings with a matching bracelet that I also made. Yes pictures of these items would be nice but really I barely had time to finish them, never-mind photograph them!
I am not sure that I am loving the blue on this card but I thought it sort of went with the scarf. I also think maybe I overdid it with all of the gems AND the Stickles. Oh well, it was really late when I finished it last night so I can't claim it is my best work but hopefully she will like it.
One cool technique I did discover was that my black India ink pad stamps really well on coated cardstock and looks fabulous with this reversed alphabet (meaning the stamp makes the background and the letters stay the color of the paper). I think it will make me use this alpha more often!
Directions:
Cut card to 5 by 7 side-opening and scallop the right edge of the front panel. Trim strips of patterned paper to 4.5 inches wide and approximate heights as shown. Wrap ribbon around pink panel and tie bow around the ribbon. Attach all strips to card, aligning with the fold. Glue strip of black pp inside the card front so it shows behind the scalloped edge. Punch scalloped circles from black & pink pp and layer with foam flowers. Top with rhinestone flower and tiny clear gem. Die-cut swirls from white CS using Slice. Position above and below flower embellie on blue panel. Slide corsage pink through the bow and into small foam flower. Top flower with small clear gem. Stamp name with alphabet stamps using black ink on glossy CS. Cut out individual letters and attach. Edge strip of black dotted pp with upper crest punch. Attach tiny gem in each "valley." Apply Stickles to ends of each swirl.
Supplies:
Strips of patterned papers left over from other projects (bottom pink strip is DCWV Summer stack, blue is Target $1 spot, white swirl I stamped -- see the previous post, pink strip is cut from a gift bag), black & white ribbon, white cardstock, Icicle Stickles, foam flowers from kid's craft dept, corsage pink, letter stamps, rhinestone flower, tiny gems, Slice, Fiskars Scallop Sentiment & Upper Crest punches, Marvy scallop circle punches, Xyron
This card is for my friend Kristina whose birthday is actually today but I am a bit late in the mailing. It's a bit of an odd size, slightly smaller than 5 by 7, but is is going in a box anyway. It is going to be sent with a hat and scarf that I knitted for her in this soft variegated-blue suede yarn and a pair of red, silver and black earrings with a matching bracelet that I also made. Yes pictures of these items would be nice but really I barely had time to finish them, never-mind photograph them!I am not sure that I am loving the blue on this card but I thought it sort of went with the scarf. I also think maybe I overdid it with all of the gems AND the Stickles. Oh well, it was really late when I finished it last night so I can't claim it is my best work but hopefully she will like it.
One cool technique I did discover was that my black India ink pad stamps really well on coated cardstock and looks fabulous with this reversed alphabet (meaning the stamp makes the background and the letters stay the color of the paper). I think it will make me use this alpha more often!
Directions:
Cut card to 5 by 7 side-opening and scallop the right edge of the front panel. Trim strips of patterned paper to 4.5 inches wide and approximate heights as shown. Wrap ribbon around pink panel and tie bow around the ribbon. Attach all strips to card, aligning with the fold. Glue strip of black pp inside the card front so it shows behind the scalloped edge. Punch scalloped circles from black & pink pp and layer with foam flowers. Top with rhinestone flower and tiny clear gem. Die-cut swirls from white CS using Slice. Position above and below flower embellie on blue panel. Slide corsage pink through the bow and into small foam flower. Top flower with small clear gem. Stamp name with alphabet stamps using black ink on glossy CS. Cut out individual letters and attach. Edge strip of black dotted pp with upper crest punch. Attach tiny gem in each "valley." Apply Stickles to ends of each swirl.
Supplies:
Strips of patterned papers left over from other projects (bottom pink strip is DCWV Summer stack, blue is Target $1 spot, white swirl I stamped -- see the previous post, pink strip is cut from a gift bag), black & white ribbon, white cardstock, Icicle Stickles, foam flowers from kid's craft dept, corsage pink, letter stamps, rhinestone flower, tiny gems, Slice, Fiskars Scallop Sentiment & Upper Crest punches, Marvy scallop circle punches, Xyron
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